My Saturday

I think it was Choiboy who said, "I think you should blog about your typical weekend." My reply was, "it will be really boring, like - wake up, breakfast, read, study Indonesian, watch movie, lunch, nap, go shop for food, watch TV, read, and sleep" This is especially true of weekends when I'm the only person in the house. Chris is in Australia, celebrating his 60th.

But in reality, that's typically my plan when I wake up on a Saturday morning, but somehow, I always get hijacked into do something else. Like yesterday...

I was able to stay on track for the first 4 tasks. Then I went over to the office and ran into Arman and Mirza - 2 of our Community Facilitators. They were waiting to take this woman from USAID's Jakarta Office on a short tour of our villages, since it was her first time in Aceh. So I ended up going out with them. First we went to lunch and then to 2 of our villages - Lumpuuk and Gurah. You see that picture in my profile with the big coal barge on the road? Well, Poof. It's gone! See pic below. They emptied the barge of its content, jacked it up, and inserted heavy duty circular balloons under the barge and slowly rolled it out to sea. All in the last 2 days! Crazy stuff!

Back to my day. I got home from the villages around 4pm and sat down to watch a documentary on baby penguins on the National Geographic channel when Arman and Mirza came by and asked if I wanted to go with them to Aceh Bangkit and meet the other Facilitators there. The Bangkit is like the Aceh version of the State Fair, minus the rides. The Fair complex is made up of lifesize models of traditional Achenese houses from across the province. Inside these houses, each of Aceh's 21 Regencies demonstrate arts and crafts, natural resources, etc from that area. This year's fair is different because NGOs and donors are also showcasing their work in booth - including USAID. I ended up staying at the fair until about 8pm. Then went and had noodles on the side of a street with 4 of the Facilitators. I capped off the night by buying 6 DVDs and 6 CDs for $6. Got home late by Aceh standards (10pm!)

I pondered about setting an alarm at 4:30am to wake up and follow the Cal-Illinois game on the internet, but decided it was still early in the season and was a non-conference game. I will wait until the USC or Big Game. I did go to bed in my Cal t-shirt though. Go Bears!